50pc refunds urged for trains 30 minutes late

TRAINS that run half an hour late should trigger passenger refunds of 50 per cent, the Strategic Rail Authority promised yesterday, while saying the plan might be delayed.

The Government body wanted to incorporate improved compensation into new contracts with train operators, which it began negotiating 18 months ago. At present all 25 train companies offer lesser pay-outs when services are 30 minutes overdue.

More than two thirds give no refund unless a train is at least an hour behind schedule and even then compensation is often worth only 25-40 per cent of the ticket. The authority also wants to ensure that season ticket-holders do not have to tolerate sustained poor punctuality before qualifying for discounts on their next pass.

Launching its strategic agenda, the authority conceded that at least six of the 18 revised franchise contracts were unlikely to have been resolved by the end of the year. To date, provisional agreement has been reached on only two: Chiltern and Connex South Central. The 88-page document said that further legal and financial processes would mean that some of the new contracts might not come into effect before April 2003.

Sir Alastair Morton, authority chairman, said the £34 billion of private capital making up the bulk of the plan's investment was an "aspirational" figure, which could not be confirmed. He said it would be "pretty good progress" if a satisfactory rail network was achieved within the plan's lifetime.

Related Articles

Some projects, such as tunnels crossing London between Paddington and Liverpool Street and between Wimbledon and Hackney, would take more than a decade. A new high-speed London-Scotland line would take more like 15 years and even the long-planned Thameslink 2000 scheme would be "very lucky" if it was operational by 2007.

While much of the West Coast, East Coast, Great Western and Midland main line upgrades would be needed within 10 years, this timescale did not "necessarily reflect when a project will actually be started or completed". Sir Alastair said his organisation faced a "massive challenge" in modernising the rail infrastructure and said Railtrack did not have the finance or managerial expertise to take on all the projects itself.

The Rail Passengers' Council welcomed the plans for improved compensation for delays and urged the authority to insist on them. An official said: "Passengers want big changes on the railway and it is high time we upped the ante for refunds when things go wrong."